San Antonio, Texas

Dear Friends,

As you can probably tell, my business travel has really slowed down.  This is a mixed blessing.  It does mean that I'm home more often.  However, my job has changed slightly so that my workload has increased quite a bit.  Even though I'm in town, I'm actually at the office more than usual.  In addition, I'm feeling a little wanderlust - but that will have to wait.

Last weekend, my wife and I decided to take a little trip to the San Antonio LDS Temple:

For those of our faith, this is an incredibly spiritual and sacred experience.  Every once in a while, I feel a strong need to be just a little closer to my Father in Heaven.  With changes at work and impending surgery for my little two-year-old, I need to feel the kind of peace that comes with attending the temple.

Because the temple is about 90 minutes away, it's a challenge to set aside about 6 hours for my wife and I to attend together.  Instead, we make it a family outing and stay overnight in a hotel.  That way, we can show the kids just how important this aspect of our worship is.  I attend the last session on Friday night, while my wife attends the first session on Saturday morning.  The best part is that our two youngest are still small enough to see this as a "vacation" ; )

We usually stay at a hotel near the temple.  There is a Krispy Kreme located right next door to the hotel.  While my wife was at the temple, I fed the kids a normal breakfast.  Afterwards, we walked next door to have a little treat ; )  Both kids LOVE to watch the entire donut-making process at Krispy Kreme:

Trying to figure out how to get into the donut-making area...

Again, this made the trip really special.  Afterwards, we took the kids to the temple grounds, so we could all spend time together, walking around the gorgeous structure.  We took the chance to explain to our 5 year-old why the temple is so important to us.  This particular LDS temple is really gorgeous on the inside.  I've been to a few temples - and they are all beautiful - but this is truly unique:

The exterior is also stunning, as the stained-glass windows are very close to the walking path.  We stopped to take pictures at each one, and talked about what was depicted in the artwork.

I tried to take a picture with both of the kids, but little L wasn't a happy camper.  This is probably the best depiction of what was happening : )

After leaving the temple grounds, and a visit to the Distribution Center, we decided to have lunch at a brand-new restaurant that had opened only blocks away.  As if the temple couldn't get any more celestial, a Cane's Chicken appeared nearby ; ) This is one of my favorite places to visit in the Dallas area.  We were really surprised to find one in San Antonio.  Their chicken fingers are d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s:

Sorry it's blurry...I was just excited to start eating ; )

On the way home from San Antonio, we decided to stop at a well-know location for travelers along Interstate 35.  We had heard about this place, but just wanted to experience it for ourselves.  And experience it, we did.  It's called Buc-ee's (pronounced buck-ees) and the best way to describe it is the larges truck stop/convenience store I've ever seen in my life.

There are probably about 100 different gas pumps, there in the front.  Behind all of that is the actual "store".  The size was much larger than a super-sized grocery store!  This is just one small wall, with nothing but candy and trail mixes.  Each of those walls are about 15-18 ft. high:

Just one of the many candy aisles

This was an entire aisle of jerky - not just beef jerky, but all kinds of animal meat to choose from, and this was just the stuff that they made on-site.  There was another aisle of recognizable beef jerky brands:

I have to hand it to these guys.  They have a brand, and they've used it extensively. G-Man poses in front of their mascot.  Behind him, are aisles and aisles of merchandise with their logo:

What would a convenience store be, without an Icee machine?  Well, this one has four separate machines:

Don't get me started on the soft drinks.  It's hard to see, but there are five of these large fountain drink stations:

An entire "hunting" section...of course...

They also had home-made fudge...and a lot of it.  Next to that was an entire butcher shop, with freshly-made jerky.  Beef, pork, turkey...you name it.

 Needless to say, it was a truly Texan cultural experience.  Not a place we would go every day, but it was fun to just check out.  I think this will become part of our tour, for anyone who comes to visit ; )

So there you have it.  A great - and short - trip to San Antonio for our little family.  With such amazing weather in March, we had an exceptional time together!